Friday, January 1, 2010

2010 is less then 24 hours old in my time zone, and I have the day off.

And in the background there is constant ringing.

Not of bells or some other relaxing device, but of my cell phone.

All of them messages of this sort:

"Hello? I see Dr. Grumpy for (neurological problem) and take (drug du jour). It's a new year, and so I need a new script (called/faxed/telepathically sent) to my mail-order pharmacy because I (have new insurance/can afford them on my medical FLEX account/am now out of the medicare 'doughnut hole'). Please call them in for me ASAP!!!

Just chill, people. My office will be open on Monday. Call then. Your pharmacy won't be shipping before then, anyway.

Those people probably don't think you'll get the message until Monday but wanted to call while they were thinking about it. Once I called my pediatrician and when I learned he was off for the day, asked if I could leave a message. The staff said they had to include in the message that I understood he wouldn't get back to me that day because he gets all of his messages sent to him even on his days off. Why would one do that to himself? If you're off, you should be off limits too!

And now everyone understands why the first day of a new year is the worst day ever to try and fill a prescription (not that that stops ANYONE), although this year I think it will all roll over to Monday. So glad I'm still on maternity leave!

So wait a minute, you mean to tell me that when one year ends...another one...begins? and that means I may need more meds? Man it sure would be nice if they would warn us about this whole ending-of-the-year thing so we could prepare!

I don't mind having patients leave me messages on weekends or evenings. It helps me prepare for the next day and how to prioritize my day or get in earlier if need be. I only answer calls that are urgent during off hours.

Welcome to my whining!

This blog is entirely for entertainment purposes. All posts about patients may be fictional, or be my experience, or were submitted by a reader, or any combination of the above. Factual statements may or may not be accurate.

Singing Foo!

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